Under the PMEGP, as many as 40,915 jobs were created this fiscal till July 16 and 3.57 lakh employment opportunities generated during 2014-15, as per a statement in the Lok Sabha today by Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya.

Government has been implementing a credit-linked subsidy programme named PMEGPsince 2008-09 by merging the two schemes that were in operation till March 31, 2008 namely Prime Minister's Rojgar Yojana (PMRY) and Rural Employment Generation Programme (REGP), with Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) as the nodal agency.

PMEGP has been implemented at the national level for generating employment in the country by setting up of micro- enterprises in the non-farm sector.

Under PMEGP, general category beneficiaries can avail of margin money subsidy of 25 per cent of the project cost in rural areas and 15 per cent in urban areas.

For beneficiaries belonging to special categories such as scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, OBCs, minorities, women, ex-servicemen, physically handicapped, beneficiaries belonging to North Eastern Region, hill and border areas, etc., the margin money subsidy is 35 per cent in rural areas and 25 per cent in urban area.

Under the scheme, the maximum cost of project is Rs 25 lakh in the manufacturing sector and Rs 10 lakh in the service sector.

As per the minister's statement in the House, government has released Rs 1,019 crore as margin money subsidy this fiscal till July 16.

The government had released 1,093.06 crore in 2014-15 as margin money subsidy under the programme, it added.